New Aptivas showcase USB

The new Aptiva models are based on Pentium processors up to 200MHz speeds, with up to 2Gb hard drives, and 16Mb RAM and eight-speed CD-ROM drives shipped as standard. They are also the first PCs out in the UK with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port in place for high-speed peripherals that can be daisy-chained a la the Macintosh.

The 3D graphics engine is the Total Image 3-D card based on ATI's 3D RAGE accelerator with 2Mb DRAM and hardware MPEG support built in to IBM's MWave processor. The Aptiva is also Internet-ready with an internal 28,800bps voice-modem, Netscape Navigator 2.0 and trial subscription to CompuServe. The huge software bundle includes Lotus SmartSuite, Microsoft Works 4.0 and numerous games and edu-tainment CD-ROMs. Like Hewlett-Packard's Pavilion, the Aptiva comes with colour-coded cables to ease setup.

Prices start at £1,399 + VAT.